Livestock

Cattle on a pasture in Germany

Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber, and labor. The term is often used to refer solely to those raised for food, and sometimes only farmed ruminants, such as cattle and goats. In recent years, some organizations have also raised livestock to promote the survival of rare breeds. The breeding, maintenance, and slaughter of these animals, known as animal husbandry, is a component of modern agriculture that has been practiced in many cultures since humanity's transition to farming from hunter-gatherer lifestyles.

Animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and time periods. Originally, livestock were not confined by fences or enclosures, but these practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming, sometimes referred to as factory farming. These practices increase yield of the various commercial outputs, but have led to increased concerns about animal welfare and the environmental impact. Livestock production continues to play a major economic and cultural role in numerous rural communities.

Etymology and legal definition

Livestock as a word was first used between 1650 and 1660, as a merger between the words live and stock.^[1]

Older English sources, such as the King James Version of the Bible, refer to all domesticated animals as cattle, while the word word deer was used for wild animals. The word cattle is derived from Old North French catel, which meant all kinds of movable personal property,^[2] including livestock, which was differentiated from non-movable real estate ("real property"). In later English, sometimes smaller livestock such as chickens and pigs were referred to as small cattle.. Today, the modern meaning of cattle, without a modifier, usually refers to domesticated bovines, but sometimes livestock refers only to this subgroup.^[2]

Legal definition

United States federal legislation sometimes more narrowly defines the term to make specified agricultural commodities either eligible or ineligible for a program or activity. For example, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-78, Title IX) defines livestock only as cattle, swine, and lambs. 1988 disaster assistance legislation defined the term as "cattle, sheep, goats, swine, poultry (including egg-producing poultry), equine animals used for food or in the production of food, fish used for food, and other animals designated by the Secretary."^[3]

History

Animal-rearing originated during the cultural transition to settled farming communities from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animals are domesticated when their breeding and living conditions are controlled by humans. Over time, the collective behaviour, life cycle and physiology of livestock have changed radically. Many modern farm animals are unsuited to life in the wild. Dogs were domesticated in East Asia about 15,000 years ago. goats and sheep were domesticated around 8000 BC in Asia. Swine or pigs were domesticated by 7000 BC in the Middle East and China. The earliest evidence of horse domestication dates to around 4000 BC.^[4]

Types

The term "livestock" is nebulous and may be defined narrowly or broadly. Broadly, livestock refers to any breed or population of animal kept by humans for a useful, commercial purpose. This can mean domestic animals, semi-domestic animals, or captive wild animals. Semi-domesticated refers to animals which are only lightly domesticated or of disputed status. These populations may also be in the process of domestication. Some people may use the term livestock to refer to only animals used for red meat.

Animal / Type	Domestication status	Wild ancestor	Time of first captivity, domestication	Area of first captivity, domestication	Current commercial uses	Picture
Alpaca Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Vicuña	Between 5000 BC and 4000 BC	Andes	Alpaca fiber, meat
Banteng Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Banteng	Unknown	Southeast Asia, Java	meat, milk, draught
Bison Mammal, herbivore	captive (see also Beefalo)	N/A	Late 19th century	North America	meat, leather
Camel Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Wild dromedary and Bactrian camels	Between 4000 BC and 1400 BC	Asia	mount, pack animal, meat, dairy, camel hair
Cat Mammal, carnivore	domestic	African wildcat	7500 BC[5][6][7]	Near East	pest control, companionship, meat
Cattle Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Aurochs	6000 BC	Southwest Asia, India, North Africa (?)	Meat (beef, veal, blood), dairy, leather, draught
Deer Mammal, herbivore	captive	N/A	1st century AD	UK	Meat (venison), leather, antlers, antler velvet
Dog Mammal, omnivore	domestic	Wolf	12000 BC		pack animal, draught, hunting, herding, searching/gathering, watching/guarding, companionship, meat
Donkey Mammal, herbivore	domestic	African wild ass	4000 BC	Egypt	mount, pack animal, draught, meat, dairy
Gayal Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Gaur	Unknown	Southeast Asia	meat, draught
Goat Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Wild goat	8000 BC	Southwest Asia	Dairy, meat, wool, leather, light draught
Guinea pig Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Cavia tschudii	5000 BC	South America	Meat, companionship
Horse Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Wild horse	4000 BC	Eurasian Steppes	Mount, draught, dairy, meat, pack animal
Llama Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Guanaco	3500 BC	Andes	pack animal, draught, meat, wool
Mule Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Sterile hybrid of donkey and horse			mount, pack animal, draught
Pig Mammal, omnivore	domestic	Wild boar	7000 BC	Eastern Anatolia	Meat (pork, bacon, etc.), leather, pet, research
Rabbit Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Wild rabbit	between AD 400-900	France	Meat, fur, leather, pet, research
Reindeer Mammal, herbivore	semi-domestic	reindeer	3000 BC	Northern Russia	Meat, leather, antlers, dairy, draught,
Sheep Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Asiatic mouflon sheep	Between 11000 BC-9000 BC	Southwest Asia	Wool, dairy, leather, meat (mutton, lamb)
Water buffalo Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Wild Asian water buffalo, (Arni)	4000 BC	South Asia	mount, draught, meat, dairy
Yak Mammal, herbivore	domestic	Yak	2500 BC	Tibet, Nepal	Meat, dairy, wool, mount, pack animal, draught

 

Animal rearing

A Brown Swiss cow in the Swiss Alps

Livestock are used by humans for a variety of purposes.

The economic value of livestock includes:

Meat

The production of a useful form of dietary protein and energy.

Dairy Products 

Mammalian livestock can be used as a source of milk, which can in turn easily be processed into other dairy products, such as yogurt, cheese, butter, ice cream, kefir, and kumis. Using livestock for this purpose can often yield several times the food energy of slaughtering the animal outright.

Fiber 

Livestock produce a range of fiber/textiles. For example, sheep and goats produce wool and mohair; cows, deer, and sheep skins can be made into leather; and bones, hooves and horns of livestock can be used.

Fertilizer 

Manure can be spread on fields to increase crop yields. This is an important reason why historically, plant and animal domestication have been intimately linked. Manure is also used to make plaster for walls and floors, and can be used as a fuel for fires. The blood and bone of animals are also used as fertilizer.

Labor 

Animals such as horses, donkey, and yaks can be used for mechanical energy. Prior to steam power, livestock were the only available source of non-human labor. They are still used for this purpose in many places of the world, including ploughing fields (drafting), transporting goods, and military functions.

Land management 

The grazing of livestock is sometimes used as a way to control weeds and undergrowth. For example, in areas prone to wild fires, goats and sheep are set to graze on dry scrub which removes combustible material and reduces the risk of fires.: Conservation

The raising of livestock to conserve a rare breed. This can be achieved through gene banking and breeding programmes.^[8]

During the history of animal husbandry, many secondary products have arisen in an attempt to increase carcass utilization and reduce waste. For example, animal offal and non-edible parts may be transformed into products such as pet food and fertilizer. In the past, such waste products were sometimes also fed to livestock as well. However, intraspecies recycling poses a disease risk, threatening animal and even human health (see bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), scrapie and prion). Due primarily to BSE (mad cow disease), feeding animal scraps to animals has been banned in many countries, at least for ruminants and pigs.

Farming practices

Goat family with 1-week-old young

Farrowing place in a natural cave in northern Spain

Farming practices vary dramatically worldwide and between types of animals. Livestock are generally kept in an enclosure, fed by humans, and intentionally bred. Some livestock are not enclosed, are fed by access to natural foods, or are allowed to breed freely.

Livestock raising historically was part of a nomadic or pastoral form of material culture. The herding of camels and reindeer in some parts of the world remains disassociated with sedentary agriculture. The transhumance form of herding in the Sierra Nevada of California still continues, as cattle, sheep or goats are moved from winter pasture in lower elevation valleys to spring and summer pasture in the foothills and alpine regions, as the seasons progress. Cattle were raised on the open range in the Western United States and Canada, on the Pampas of Argentina, and other prairie and steppe regions of the world.

The enclosure of livestock in pastures and barns is a relatively new development in the history of agriculture. When cattle are enclosed, the type of enclosure may vary from a small crate, a large fenced pasture, or a paddock. The type of feed may vary from natural growing grass to animal feed. Animals are usually intentionally bred through artificial insemination or supervised mating. Indoor production systems are typically used for pigs, dairy cattle, poultry, veal cattle, dairy goats, and other animals depending on the region and season. Animals kept indoors are generally farmed intensively, as large space requirements would make indoor farming unprofitable and impossible. However, indoor farming systems are controversial due to the waste they produce, odour problems, the potential for groundwater contamination, and animal welfare concerns. (For further discussion on intensively farmed livestock, see factory farming, and intensive pig farming). Livestock source verification is used to track livestock.

Other livestock are farmed outside, although the size of enclosure and level of supervision may vary. In large open ranges, animals may be only occasionally inspected or yarded in "round-ups" or a muster. Herding dogs may be used for mustering livestock as are cowboys, stockmen and jackaroos on horses, with vehicles, and also by helicopters. Since the advent of barbed wire (in the 1870s) and electric fence technology, fencing pastures has become much more feasible and pasture management simplified. Rotation of pasturage is a modern technique for improving nutrition and health while avoiding environmental damage to the land. In some cases very large numbers of animals may be kept in indoor or outdoor feeding operations (on feedlots), where the animals' feed is processed, offsite or onsite, and stored on site then fed to the animals.

Livestock - especially cattle - may be branded to indicate ownership and age, but in modern farming identification is more likely to be indicated by means of ear tags and electronic identification than branding. Sheep are also frequently marked by means of ear marks and/or ear tags. As fears of mad cow disease and other epidemic illnesses mount, the use of implants to monitor and trace animals in the food production system is increasingly common, and sometimes required by government regulations.

Modern farming techniques seek to minimize human involvement, increase yield, and improve animal health. Economics, quality and consumer safety all play a role in how animals are raised. Drug use and feed supplements (or even feed type) may be regulated, or prohibited, to ensure yield is not increased at the expense of consumer health, safety or animal welfare. Practices vary around the world, for example growth hormone use is permitted in the United States, but not in stock to be sold to the European Union. The improvement of health, using modern farming techniques, on the part of animals has come into question. Feeding corn to cattle, which have historically eaten grasses, is an example; where the cattle are less adapted, the rumen pH changes to more acidic, leading to liver damage and other difficulties. The US F.D.A. still allows feedlots to feed nonruminant animal proteins to cattle. For example, feeding chicken manure and poultry meal is acceptable for cattle, and beef or pork meat and bone meal is being fed to chickens.

Predation

Livestock farmers have suffered from wild animal predation and theft by rustlers. In North America, animals such as the gray wolf, grizzly bear, cougar, and coyote are sometimes considered a threat to livestock. In Eurasia and Africa, predators include the wolf, leopard, tiger, lion, dhole, Asiatic black bear, crocodile, spotted hyena and others. In South America, feral dogs, jaguar, anaconda and spectacled bear are a threat to livestock. In Australia, the dingo, foxes, wedge-tailed eagles are common predators, with an additional threat from domestic dogs because they may kill seemingly for fun, leaving the carcass uneaten.^[9][10]

Disease

Livestock diseases compromise animal welfare, reduce productivity, and can infect humans. Animal diseases may be tolerated, reduced through animal husbandry, or reduced through antibiotics and vaccines. In developing countries, animal diseases are tolerated in animal husbandry, resulting in considerably reduced productivity, especially given the low health-status of many developing country herds. Disease management for gains in productivity is often the first step taken in implementing an agriculture policy.

Disease management can be achieved through changes in animal husbandry. These measures may aim to control spread using biosecurity measures, such as controlling animal mixing, controlling entry to farm lots and the use of protective clothing, and quarantining sick animals. Diseases also may be controlled by the use of vaccines and antibiotics. Antibiotics in sub-therapeutic doses may also be used as a growth-promoter, increasing growth by 10-15%.^[11] The issue of antibiotic resistance has limited the practices of preventative dosing such as antibiotic-laced feed. Countries will often require the use of veterinary certificates before transporting, selling or showing animals. Disease-free areas often rigorously enforce rules for entry of potentially diseased animals, including quarantine.

Transportation and marketing

Grass-fed cattle, saleyards, Walcha, NSW

Since many livestock are herd animals, they were historically driven to market "on the hoof" to a town or other central location. During the period after the American Civil War, the abundance of Longhorn cattle in Texas, and the demand for beef in Northern markets, led to the implementation of the Old West cattle drive. The method is still used in some parts of the world. Truck transport is now common in developed countries. Local and regional livestock auctions and commodity markets facilitate trade in livestock. In other areas, livestock may be bought and sold in a bazaar, such as may be found in many parts of Central Asia, or a flea market type setting.

In developing world countries, having access to markets has been shown to encourage farmers to invest in livestock, with the result that they improve their livelihoods. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has worked in Zimbabwe to help farmers make their most of their livestock herds. ICRISAT worked to improve local farming systems, through 'Innovation platforms' at which farmers, traders, rural development agencies and extension officers could discuss the challenges they faced. One finding was that if farmers devoted half of three hectares to maize and half to mucuna (velvet bean) in a rotation system, they could obtain 80% of the biomass needed to see their livestock through the dry season. If they only grew maize, they only met 20% of their biomass needs. In Gwanda, the platform helped create a strong local market for goats, raising the value of a single animal from 10US$ to 60US$. This gave the farmers a great incentive to invest in their own goats by growing their own feed stock, buying in commercial feed and improving their rangeland management techniques. Because the platform has helped regulate prices, farmers now plan ahead and sell animals at auction, rather than just selling one or two animals at their farm gate.^[12]

Stock shows and fairs are events where people bring their best livestock to compete with one another. Organizations like 4-H, Block & Bridle, and FFA encourage young people to raise livestock for show purposes. Special feeds are purchased and hours may be spent prior to the show grooming the animal to look its best. In cattle, sheep, and swine shows, the winning animals are frequently auctioned off to the highest bidder, and the funds are placed into a scholarship fund for its owner. The movie Grand Champion, released in 2004, is the story of a young Texas boy's experience raising a prize steer.

Animal welfare

A shepherd boy in India. Livestock are extremely important to the livelihoods of rural smallholder farmers, particularly in the developing world.

The issue of raising livestock for human benefit raises the issue of the relationship between humans and animals, in terms of the status of animals and obligations of people. Animal welfare is the viewpoint that animals under human care should be treated in such a way that they do not suffer unnecessarily. What is 'unnecessary' suffering may vary. Generally, though, the animal welfare perspective is based on an interpretation of scientific research on farming practices. By contrast, animal rights is the viewpoint that using animals for human benefit is, by its nature, generally exploitation, regardless of the farming practices used. Animal rights activists would generally be vegan or vegetarian, whereas it is consistent with the animal welfare perspective to eat meat, depending on production processes.

Animal welfare groups generally seek to generate public discussion on livestock raising practices and secure greater regulation and scrutiny of livestock industry practices. Animal rights groups usually seek the abolition of livestock farming, although some groups may recognise the necessity of achieving more stringent regulation first. Animal welfare groups, such as the RSPCA, are often, in first world countries, given a voice at governmental level in the development of policy. Animal rights groups find it harder to find methods of input, and may go further and advocate civil disobedience or violence.

A number of animal husbandry practices have been the subject of campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s and have led to legislation in some countries. Confinement of livestock in small and unnatural spaces is often done for economic or health reasons. Animals may be kept in the minimum size of cage or pen with little or no space to exercise. Where livestock are used as a source of power, they may be pushed beyond their limits to the point of exhaustion. The public visibility of this abuse meant it was one of the first areas to receive legislation in the nineteenth century in European countries, but it still goes on in parts of Asia. Broiler hens may be de-beaked, pigs may have deciduous teeth pulled, cattle may be de-horned and branded, dairy cows and sheep may have tails cropped, merino sheep may be mulesed, and many types of male animals are castrated. Animals may be transported long distances to market and slaughter. Overcrowded conditions, heat from tropical-area shipping and lack of food, water and rest breaks have been subject to legislation and protest. (See Live Export) Slaughter of livestock was an early target for legislation. Campaigns continue to target Halal and Kosher religious ritual slaughter.

Environmental impact

Cattle near the Bruneau River in Elko County, Nevada

At first, reports like the United Nations report "Livestock's Long Shadow" cast a pall over the livestock sector (primarily cattle, chickens, and pigs) for 'emerging as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to our most serious environmental problems.' In April 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency released a major stocktake of emissions in the United States entitled Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2006.^[13] On 6.1 it found "In 2006, the agricultural sector was responsible for emissions of 454.1 teragrams of CO₂ equivalent (Tg CO₂ Eq.), or 6 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions." By way of comparison, transportation in the US produces more than 25% of all emissions. In 2009, Worldwatch Institute released a report which revealed 51% of greenhouse gas emissions were from the animal agriculture sector.^[14]

The issue of livestock as a major policy focus remains, especially when dealing with problems of deforestation in neotropical areas, land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. A research team at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Hokkaidō found that supplementing the animals' diet with cysteine, a type of amino acid, and nitrate can reduce the methane gas produced, without jeopardising the cattle's productivity or the quality of their meat and milk.^[15]

Deforestation

Deforestation impacts the carbon cycle (and global and regional climate) and causes habitat loss of many species. Forests that are sinks for the carbon cycle are lost through deforestation. Forests are either logged or burned to make room for grasslands, often the area needed is extensive. Deforestation can also create fragmentation, allowing only patches of habitat for species to live. If patches are distant and small, gene flow is reduced, habitat is altered, edge effects will occur and there will be more opportunities for invasive species to intrude.^[16]

Land degradation

Research from the University of Botswana in 2008 has found that farmers' common practice of overstocking cattle to cope with drought losses made ecosystems more vulnerable and risked long term damage to cattle herds, in turn, by actually depleting scarce biomass. The study of the Kgatleng district of Botswana predicted that by 2050, the cycle of mild drought is likely to become shorter for the region (18 months instead of two years) due to climate change.^[17]

Climate change and air pollution

Testing Australian sheep for exhaled methane production (2001), CSIRO

Methane is one of the gasses emitted from livestock manure; it persists for long periods of time and is a greenhouse gas. It is the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.^[18] Even though there is less methane than carbon dioxide, its ability to warm the atmosphere is 25 times greater.^[18] Nitrous oxide, another gaseous byproduct of animal agriculture, is about 300 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Animal agriculture contributes 65% of anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions.^[16]

Water shortage

Livestock require water not only for consumption, but also for watering drops necessary for feed. Grains are often used to feed livestock; about 50% of US grains and 40% of world grains are used for this purpose^[19] Grain and in general crop production requires various amounts of water, it takes 100,000 liters of water for a kilogram of grain fed beef, compared to wheat, which takes 900 liters.^[19]

Water pollution

Fertilizers that often contain manure are used to grow crops (such as cereal and fodder) that have phosphorus and nitrogen in them, 95% of which is estimated to be lost to the environment.^[20] The pollutants then cause dead zones for plants and aquatic animals due to the lack of oxygen in the water.^[21] The lack of oxygen is known as eutrophication, where organisms present in the water grow excessively and then later decompose using up the oxygen in the water. The most prominent example of such is the Gulf of Mexico, where much of the nutrients in fertilizer used in the mid west are funneled down the Mississippi River into the Gulf causing massive dead zones. Another pollutant not most commonly thought of is antibiotics and hormones. In southern Asia vultures that consumed carcasses of livestock declined 95% due to antibiotic known as Diclofenac.^[16]

Alternatives

Researchers in Australia are looking into the possibility of reducing methane from cattle and sheep by introducing digestive bacteria from kangaroo intestines into livestock.^[22]

In semi-arid rangelands such as the Great Plains in the U.S., there has been research that provides evidence that livestock can be beneficial to maintaining grassland habitats. Livestock create and maintain habitat for big game species^[23]

Economic and social benefits

The value of global livestock production in 2013 has been estimated at about 883 billion dollars, (constant 2005-2006 dollars).^[24] However, economic implications of livestock production extend further: to downstream industry (saleyards, abattoirs, butchers, milk processors, refrigerated transport, wholesalers, retailers, food services, tanneries, etc.), upstream industry (feed producers, feed transport, farm and ranch supply companies, equipment manufacturers, seed companies, vaccine manufacturers, etc.) and associated services (veterinarians, nutrition consultants, shearers, etc.).

Livestock provide a variety of food and non-food products; the latter include leather, wool, pharmaceuticals, bone products, industrial protein and fats, etc. For many abattoirs, very little animal biomass may be wasted at slaughter. Even intestinal contents removed at slaughter may be recovered for use as fertilizer. Livestock manure helps maintain fertility of grazing lands. From barns and feeding areas, manure is commonly collected for fertilization of cropland. In some places, animal manure is used as fuel, either directly (as in some developing countries), or indirectly (as a source of methane for heating or generation of electricity). In regions where machine power is limited, some classes of livestock tend to be used as draft stock, not only for tillage and other on-farm use, but also for transport of people and goods. In 1997, it was estimated that livestock provided energy for between 25 and 64 percent of cultivation energy in the world's irrigated systems, and that 300 million draft animals were used globally in small-scale agriculture.^[25]

Although livestock production serves as a source of income, it can provide additional economic values for rural families, often serving as a major contributor to food security and economic security. Livestock can serve as insurance against risk^[26] and an economic buffer (of income and/or food supply) in some regions and some economies (e.g. during some African droughts), although its use as a buffer may sometimes be limited where alternatives are present,^[27] which may reflect strategic maintenance of insurance in addition to a desire to retain productive assets. Even for some livestock owners in developed nations, livestock can serve as a kind of insurance.^[28] Some crop growers may produce livestock as a strategy for diversification of income sources, to reduce risk that may relate to weather, markets and other factors.^[29][30]

Many studies have found evidence of social as well as economic importance of livestock in developing countries and in regions of rural poverty, and such evidence is not confined to pastoral and nomadic societies.^{[26][31][32][33][34]}

Social values can also be considerable within developed countries. For example, in the US, in a study of livestock ranching permittees on National Forest land in New Mexico, it was concluded that "ranching maintains traditional values and connects families to ancestral lands and heritage", and that "sense of place, attachment to land, and the value of preserving open space were common themes". "The importance of land and animals as means of maintaining culture and way of life figured repeatedly in permittee responses, as did the subjects of responsibility and respect for land, animals, family, and community."^[35]

In the US, profit tends to ranks low among motivations for being involved in livestock ranching.^[36] Instead, family, tradition and a desirable way of life tend to be major motivators for ranch purchase, and ranchers "historically have been willing to accept low returns from livestock production."^[37]

See also

• Agribusiness
• Agriculture
• Agroecology
• Amenable species
• Aquaculture (cultivation of aquatic animals and plants)
• Beekeeping
• California Proposition 2 (2008)
• Cattle
• Cuniculture (rabbit farming)
• Environmental effects of meat production
• Fur farming
• Leave the gate as you found it
• Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options (UN report)
• Poultry
• Ranching
• Sericulture (silkworm farming)
• Sheep husbandry
• Western Fair
• Wildlife farming

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37. Torell, L. A., N. R. Rimbey, J. A. Tanaka, and S. A. Bailey. 2001. The lack of a profit motive for ranching: implications for policy analysis. In: L. A. Torell, E. T. Bartlett and R. Larranaga (eds.) Current issues in rangeland economics. Proc. Symp. Western Coordinating Committee 55. N. M. State Univ. Res. Rep. 737.

External links

• Better Lives Through Livestock by ILRI
• Livestock - New South Wales Government
• Havana Livestock Fair (Photo Feature) - Havana Times, October 19, 2010
• A Short History of Livestock Production